Systems and methods for providing selectable options to a calling party on-hold

ABSTRACT

A method for handling an initiated communication includes receiving, from an initiating party, an initiated communication directed to a communication destination address assigned to a receiving party. Before the initiating party is provided access to the communication destination address, the initiating party is provided with a first menu of selectable options including an option to obtain information particular to a physical geographic location identified during the initiated communication. A selected option to obtain the information particular to the physical geographic location is received from the initiating party. The information particular to the physical geographical location is provided, and after providing the information particular to the physical geographical location, the initiating party is provided with access to the communication destination address.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/549,614, filed on Jul. 16, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/202,155, filed on Aug. 29, 2008, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,249,240, issued on Aug. 21, 2012, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/957,760, filed on Sep. 21, 2001, nowU.S. Pat. No. 7,426,266, issued on Sep. 16, 2008, the contents of whichare expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods forproviding selectable options to an on-hold calling party.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Virtually everyone who uses a telephone is familiar with being put onhold when trying to reach a called party. Whether calling a restaurant,a mail-order business or the like, it is a common practice for thecalled party to place the calling party on “hold” when the called partyis too busy to immediately answer the call. “Hold” is, in the telephonesense, a limbo-like state where the call from the calling party issuspended until the called party answers the call. Typically, afterplacing the calling party on-hold, the called party provides a sedatemusic selection or advertisement pitch for the calling party to listento while the calling party waits for the called party to answer theline.

Unfortunately for the calling party, the only option after being placedon-hold is to wait until the called party answers (and, in the meantime,listen to whatever music or other information the called party provides)or to hang up the phone and try calling back later. Frequently, thecalling party will become impatient, waiting for the called party toreturn to the telephone. The wait on hold usually seems much longer thanit really is. In this manner, the calling party can get a sense that histime is being wasted: Additionally, the calling party can feel helpless,as the only options available to him are to wait or to hang up and tryagain later. In this sense, the wait on hold is not a very meaningful orvaluable experience for the calling party.

It would be advantageous to both called parties that place callingparties on hold, as well as to the calling parties themselves, ifsystems and methods were provided whereby the calling party could havemore control over the “on-hold” experience. Such systems and methodswould be particularly advantageous if they occupied the calling partyduring the time he is on hold and, thereby, made the wait on hold seemvaluable, or at least less wasteful. Consequently, there is a need forsystems and methods that provide an “on-hold” calling party withselectable options that allow the calling party to control the on holdexperience.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention satisfies the aforementioned need by providingselectable options to an on-hold calling party. In this manner, theon-hold calling party can select from various selectable options whilewaiting for the called party to answer the call. For example, thecalling party may select from options that include listening to variousaudio segments, such as music or current events, or options that performcall dispositions operations. In this manner, the duration of time thecalling party is on-hold may seem shorter because the calling party canchoose what to listen to while on-hold or how to dispose of the call.

The invention provides systems and methods for providing an on-holdcalling party with selectable options. In this manner, a call isreceived from the calling party and the calling party is placed on hold.While on hold, the calling party is provided with a plurality ofoptions, each of the plurality of options is associated with apredefined operation such as providing an audio segment or calldisposition operation. Then, a selected option request, corresponding toone of the options, is received from the calling party and thepredefined operation associated with the selected option request isperformed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

Other features of the present invention are further apparent from thefollowing detailed description of the embodiments of the presentinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates, in general block diagram form, an AdvancedIntelligent Network (AIN) based system in which the present inventionmay be embodied;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing selectableoptions to a calling party while on hold in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 illustrates, in general block diagram; a portion of an exemplaryAdvanced Intelligent Network (AIN) based system according to theprinciples of the present invention; and

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flowcharts of a method according to the invention,in which an exemplary selectable options menu is illustrated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Overview of an Exemplary Telephone Network

Referring now to the figures, an embodiment of the systems and methodsof the present invention will be described. Basic telephony concepts andterminology are used throughout the description as would be understoodby one of skill in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an exemplary telecommunicationsnetwork in which the present invention may embodied. This exemplaryenvironment is the public switched telecommunications network (PSTN). Aportion of the PSTN is illustrated in FIG. 1 and is generally describedbelow.

AIN systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,301, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In particular, an AINnetwork with advanced intelligent network capabilities may be utilizedto implement the various features and aspects of the invention. Itshould be noted, however, that the implementation of the presentinvention is not limited to AIN-based networks and other advanced orintelligent networks and arrangements may be used to implement theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified AIN-based network arrangement that mayinclude the various features of the invention, as further describedbelow. The AIN includes a variety of interconnected network elements. Agroup of such network elements includes a plurality of central offices(COs) or service switching points (SSPs) 114, 116 capable of generatingAIN queries. A central office or SSP is basically a switch and the termsare used interchangeably herein. SSPs 114 and 116 may comprise, forexample, DMS 100 or 5ESS switches. These switches may be manufacturedby, for example, Lucent Technologies, Inc. or Nortel Networks.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1, SSPs 114, 116 have a plurality ofsubscriber lines 111 connected thereto. Subscriber lines 111 may also bereferred to as calling lines. Each SSP 114, 116 serves a designatedgroup of calling lines, and thus, the SSP or switch that serves aparticular calling line may be referred to as its serving switch. Eachcalling line 111 typically is connected to a piece of terminatingequipment including a plurality of telephones designated, e.g., as 110,112. Although telephones are illustrated as the pieces of terminatingequipment in FIG. 1, those skilled in the art will understand that suchpieces include other telecommunication devices such as facsimilemachines, computers, modems, etc.

Referring again to FIG. 1, SSPs 114, 116 are interconnected by aplurality of trunk circuits 115. These are the voice path trunks thatinterconnect SSPs 114, 116 to connect communications. The term“communication” or “call” is used herein to include all messages thatmay be exchanged between caller and called party in the networkillustrated in FIG. 1. Trunk 115 may be either a Signaling System 7(SS7) controlled multi-frequency trunk (MF), or primary rate interface(PRI) trunk or the like. The type of trunk will be in accordance withboth the sending and receiving SSP to which it is connected.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, each SSP 114, 116 may include differenttypes of facilities and/or triggers. SSPs 114 and 116 are eachprogrammable switches which may perform the following functions:recognize AIN-type calls, launch queries, and receive commands and datato further process and route AIN-type calls. When one of SSPs 114 or 116is triggered by an AIN-type call, the triggered SSP 114 or 116formulates and sends an AIN query. Based on the reply from the AINnetwork, SSP 114 or 116 responds to call processing instructionsreceived.

Each of SSPs 114 and 116 is connected to a signal transfer point (STP)117 via respective data links 150, 152. In one embodiment, these aredata links employing a signaling protocol referred to as SS7, which iswell known to those skilled in the art. It should be understood,however, that any suitable signaling protocol may be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. In order tofacilitate signaling and data messaging, each SSP 114 and 116 may beequipped with Common Channel Signaling (CCS) capabilities, e.g., SS7,which provides two-way communications of data messages over CCS links150 and 152 between components of the AIN network. The data messages maybe formatted in accordance with the Transaction CapabilitiesApplications Part (TCAP). Alternatively, Integrated Service DigitalNetwork (ISDN) Users Part (ISUP) may be used for signaling purposesbetween, for example, SSPs 114 and 116. In such a case, SSPs 114 and 116may be equipped with the capability to map appropriate data between TCAPand ISUP protocols, and vice versa. The telephone network basicallyemploys an upper-level software controlled network through the STPs andthe SCP.

Accordingly, the connections by links 150, 152, 154, 156, and 158 arefor signaling purposes and allow SSPs 114 and 116 to send messages toand to receive messages from SCP 118, 119 and 120. One skilled in theart will further recognize that the above-described network is asimplified network meant for explanatory purposes. It is likely that atelephone network may comprise numerous user stations, SSPs, STPs, SCPs,and SNs along with other telephone network elements and may employ othertypes of triggers without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

AIN SSPs 114 and 116 may allow normal switch processing to be suspendedat specific points in a call so that the switch may send an AIN messagequery via signaling transfer point (STP) 117 to SCP 118, 119 or 120. SCP118, 119 or 120 may execute software based service logic and returncall-processing instructions to the triggering AIN SSP. New services maybe provisioned by assigning AIN SSP triggers to customer lines, trunks,and/or NANP (North American Numbering Plan) telephone numbers.

Much of the intelligence of the AIN resides in a type of AIN elementreferred to as a service control point (SCP) 118, 119, 120 that isconnected to STP 117 over an SS7 data link, or the like, 154, 156 or158. Among the functions performed by SCP 118, 119, 120 is the hostingof network databases and subscriber databases, which may be stored inrespective data storage objects 123, 124, 125. For example, data storageobject 123 is shown as a database communicatively coupled to SCP 118,although data storage object 123 may be embodied as a component withinSCP 118, such as an internally-mounted hard disk device. The databasesstored in data storage object 123 may be used in providingtelecommunications services to a customer. Typically, SCP 118, 119, 120is also the repository of service package applications (SPAs) that areused in the application of telecommunication services, enhancedfeatures, or subscriber services to calling lines. Additionally, SPAsmay use databases for providing telecommunication services.

A set of triggers may be defined at the SSPs 114, 116. A trigger in theAIN is an event associated with a particular call that initiates a queryto be sent to SCP 118, 119 or 120. The trigger causes selected SCP 118,119 or 120 to access, if necessary, its respective database 123, 124 or125 for processing instructions with respect to the particular call. Theresults of the SCP processing and/or database inquiry is/are sent backto selected SSP 114 or 116 in a response through STP 117. The returnpacket includes instructions to SSP 114, 116 as to how to process thecall. The instructions may be to take some special action as a result ofa customized calling service, enhanced feature, or subscriber service.In response, switch 114, 116 moves through its call states, collects thecalled digits, and generates further packets that are used to set up androute calls. Similar devices for routing calls among various localexchange carriers are provided by regional STP and regional SCP.

An example of such a trigger is a termination attempt trigger (TAT),which causes a query to be sent to SCP 118, 119 or 120 whenever anattempt is made to terminate a call on the line of subscriber 110 or112. Another type of trigger that may be used is a Public Office DialingPlan (PODP) trigger but it should be understood that the spirit andscope of the invention encompass the use of other triggers.

The AIN may also include a services circuit node 134 (SCN), which mayalso be referred to herein as a services node (SN). SN 134 is aninteractive data system that acts as a switch to transfer calls. SN 134may provide interactive help, collect voice information fromparticipants in a call, and/or provide notification functions. SN 134may be a Lucent Technologies Star Server FT Model 3200 or Model 3300although other devices may be employed without departing from the scopeof the invention. SN 134 may include voice and dual tone multi-frequency(DTMF) signal recognition devices and/or voice synthesis devices. Inaddition, SN 134 may include a data assembly interface. SN 134 may beconnected to local SCP 118, 119, 120 via respective data links 166, 168,170 using an X.25, SS7 or TCP/IP protocol or any other suitableprotocol. In addition, SN 134 typically may be connected to one or more(but usually only a few) SSPs via Integrated Service Digital Network(ISDN) lines or any other kind of suitable telephone lines.

Detailed Description of the Present Invention

The present invention provides systems and methods for providing an onhold calling party with selectable options. Such options may enable thecalling party to listen to audio segments, such as, different types ofmusic, current events, the local weather or the like or the options canbe certain call disposition functions such as directing the callingparty to a voice mailbox or to an operator. It is appreciated that atanytime while the calling party is on hold, the called party mayinterrupt the calling party and answer the call.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method in accordance with thepresent invention for providing selectable options to an on-hold callingparty. Typically, a calling party places a telephone call (“call”) bydialing a called party's unique telephone number. Then, at step 200, thecalled party's telephone system receives the call.

At step 210, the called party places the calling party on hold. Forexample, the calling party may be placed on hold because the calledparty is on another line or the calling party is not currently availableto take the call. For whatever reason, in accordance with the presentinvention, at step 220, the called party's telephone system presents oneor more options to the on-hold calling party. Each of the options iseach associated with a predefined operation. For example, in oneembodiment of the invention, the predefined operation is providing audioto the on-hold calling party. In this manner, the calling party ispresented with options that either allow the calling party tocontinuously listen to a preferred music type until the calling party isremoved from hold or allows the calling party to listen to a selectedaudio segment. For example, the audio segments can include songs, music,or information such as the local weather, traffic reports, arearestaurants, or the like. Additionally, the audio segments can beinformation segments that provide information relating to the calledparty such as, for example, directions to address of the called party,recent news concerning the called party, or the like.

Alternatively or additionally, the predefined operation can be a calldisposition operation. In this manner, the on-hold calling party ispresented with one or more options that allow the calling party todispose of the call. For example, call disposition operations caninclude directing the calling party to a voice mailbox or to an operatoror the like.

In any event, after being presented with the available options, thecalling party selects an option and, thereby, sends a selected optionrequest to the called party. In one embodiment of the present invention,the calling party can send the selected option request to the calledparty using a voice command. In this manner, the calling party can voicethe option number the calling party wishes to select. In anotherembodiment of the present invention, the calling party sends theselected option request to the called party using a touch tone command.In this manner, the calling party can press the numbered key on thetelephone keypad that corresponds to the option number the calling partywishes to select.

At step 230, the called party's telephone system receives the selectedoption request from the calling party. At step 240, the called party'stelephone system causes the predefined operation that corresponds to theselected option request to be performed. For example, if the callingparty selects an option for listening to an audio segment playingclassical music, then classical music will be audibly provided to thecalling party. Similarly, if the calling party selects an option to bedirected a voice mailbox, then the calling party is directed to thevoice mailbox.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an option can be tocontinuously listen to audio until the calling party is removed fromhold. In this manner and for example, the calling party selects anoption to listen to continuous audio of a certain type of music, andlistens to the selected audio until the calling party is removed fromhold. For example, if the calling party selects a continuous jazz musicoption, then jazz music is continuously provided to the calling partyuntil the calling party is removed from hold. It is also contemplatedthat providing continuous audio may be a default selection in the eventthe calling party does not select an option.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the calling party canlisten to one or more discrete audio segments. In this manner, thecalling party can make a selected option request and listen to adiscrete audio segment. Then, once the discrete audio segment is over,the calling party is presented with a second plurality of options whereeach of the second plurality of options is associated with a respectivepredefined operation. Then, the calling party makes a second selectedoption request that corresponds to one of the second plurality ofoptions and the second request is received by the called party andperforms the predefined operation associated with the second selectedoption request. For example, after listening to one audio segment, suchas a music song, the calling party can then-choose to listen to anotheraudio segment or can chose to be directed to voice mail or the like.

In another embodiment of the present invention, after receiving aselected option request at step 230, the calling party can be asked toinput data associated with the selected option and then the operation isperformed based on the inputted data. In this manner and for example,the user can select an option that enables the calling party to listento the local weather. In order to determine the local weather, however,the calling party's geographic location is needed. In one embodiment ofthe present invention, the calling party can be asked to enter datareflective of the calling party's city, state, zip code or the like.Alternatively, in other embodiments, any suitable information can beused such as, for example, the calling party's telephone number todetermine the calling party's geographic location without departing fromthe scope of the present invention. In any event, once the geographicinformation is received, the weather corresponding to that location canbe found. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, thecalled party's telephone system connects to a website on the Internet,for example, and retrieves an audio file containing weather informationcorresponding to that location. Such retrieval can include requesting asearch for the weather information, or any other such techniques as areknown in the art. The calling party's telephone system then provides anaudible representation of the retrieved weather information to thecalling party.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the calling party can bepresented with at least one option that allows the calling party toactivate a call disposition operation to dispose of the call. In thismanner, at step 220, the calling party is presented with at least onesuch option while on hold. For example, the calling party can bepresented with options that allow the calling party to connect to anoperator or to a called party's voice mail or similar answering service.This allows the calling party to control the duration the calling partyis on hold. In this regard and for example, the calling party may wishto leave a message for the called party after waiting on hold for sometime, consequently, the calling party may select an option which woulddirect the calling party to the called party's voice mailbox.

It is appreciated that the calling party may return to the menu ofselectable options while listening to any audio segment. In this regardand for example, the calling party may stop listening to an audiosegment by pressing the “#” key on the telephone keypad and execute acall disposition function, such as, be directed to a voice mailbox. Assuch, while listening to an audio segment, the calling party mayinterrupt the audio segment and return the selectable options menu toselect an option that will direct the calling party a voice mailbox.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a portion of an exemplary AIN basedtelephone system in which the present invention may be embodied. Forillustration purposes, as seen in FIG. 3, the present invention can beembodied in a service node 140 of an AIN based telephone system. Thepresent invention can be, however, implemented in other components of anAIN based telephone network or in any other telephone network or system.Consequently, the present invention should not be construed to belimited to AIN based systems.

A calling party (not shown) uses telephone 110 to call a called party attelephone 112 through subscriber lines 111, SSP 114, trunk line 115, andSSP 116. Telephone 112 is connected to service node 140 through SSP 116.In particular, the service node 140 in accordance with the presentinvention includes a computer-readable medium having computer-executableinstructions thereon for performing a method according to the invention.In one embodiment, the SN 140 receives a call from the calling party andconnects the call to the called party's telephone. The SN 140 causes thecalling party to be placed on hold at the calling party's command. TheSN 140 provides one or more selectable options to the on-hold callingparty. Each of the selectable options is associated with a predefinedoperation. The SN 140 receives from the calling party, a selected optionrequest that corresponds to one of the options, and causes thepredefined operation associated with the selected option request to beperformed.

In particular, the service node 140 can include interconnected elementssuch as a hold platform 144, a data store 350, a hold manager 141, andan operations manager 147. Hold platform 144 is adapted to hold at leastone calling party on hold. Additionally, the service node 140 includes ahold manager 141 in communication with the hold platform 144. Holdmanger 141 is adapted to provide a plurality of options to the on-holdcalling party in the hold platform 144 and to receive a selected optionrequest selected by the calling party that corresponds to one of theplurality of options from the on-hold calling party. In one embodimentof the present invention, the hold manager 141 accesses internal datastore 350 to retrieve the options to provide to the calling party.

The service node 144 also includes an operations manager 147 forperforming the predefined operation associated with the selected optionrequest. Specifically, and for example, if the selected option requestis to listen to audio, the operations manager 147 may access internaldata store 350 to retrieve audio files to play to the calling party. Inanother embodiment of the present invention, the operations manager 147access an external computer network 375, such as the Internet, forexample, and retrieve audio files to provide to the calling party. Forexample, if the calling party selects an option to listen to audioinformation concerning the weather, the operations manager may access anInternet website having weather information and subsequently provide theaudible weather information to the calling party.

Service Node 140 can also include a microprocessor 143 in communicationwith memory or database 350 or network 375. The microprocessor processesinstructions and various voice or touch tone commands received from thecalling party at telephone 110. Internal database 350 stores theselectable options and associated audio segments or call dispositionfunctions to be provided to the calling party. The memory 350, however,need not be contained in the same location as the processor. Forexample, the selectable options and associated audio segments anddisposition functions may be stored in a separate machine or networksuch as for example, the World Wide Web.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flowcharts of a preferred embodiment of a methodaccording to the invention. After the calling party is placed on hold,the called party's telephone system presents the on-hold calling partywith one or more selectable options at step 400. As shown, theselectable options menu can enable the user to continuously listen tomusic, to listen to an audio segment, to perform call dispositionoperations, or to listen to audio segments that require data to beinputted, such as local weather information.

If, at step 400, the calling party chooses option one, the called partyprovides the calling party, at step 405, with continuous audio until thecalling party is removed from hold.

If, at step 400, the calling party chooses option 4, then the callingparty is requested, at step 410, to input geographical data such as thecalling party's ZIP code, for example. A local weather audio segmentcorresponding to the entered ZIP code is retrieved at step 420, andprovided to the calling party at step 430. After the local weather audiosegment is completed, the calling party is, at step 440, returned to theoriginal selectable options menu, from which the calling party canselect another option.

If, at step 400, the calling party chooses option two, then, at step445, the called party may provide a second options menu that listsselectable options corresponding to audio segments. As described above,the various audio segments can include musical songs, current eventinformation, or the like. The called party then receives a secondselected option request corresponding to one of the second plurality ofoptions at step 447 and provides the selected audio segment to thecalling party at step 448. After the audio segment is complete, thecalling party can then return to the first menu at step 449.

If, at step 400, the calling party chooses option three, the calledparty performs call disposition operation for the calling party at step450. In this regard and as described above, the calling party may bedirected to an operator at step 460 or be directed to a voice mailbox atstep 470.

As should now be understood, in the present invention, methods andsystems are disclosed which provided selectable options to a callingparty while on hold. Changes could be made to the embodiments disclosedabove without departing from the broad inventive concepts thereof. Forexample, the present invention has been described as being implementedinto an AIN-based networks, however, other advanced or intelligentnetworks and arrangements may be used to implement the invention. It isunderstood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to theparticular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to covermodifications within the scope of the present invention as defined bythe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for handling an initiated communication,the method comprising: receiving, from an initiating party, an initiatedcommunication directed to a communication destination address assignedto a receiving party; before the initiating party is provided access toa final communication destination for the communication, providing tothe initiating party a first menu of selectable options including anoption to obtain information particular to a physical geographiclocation identified during the initiated communication; before theinitiating party is provided access to the final communicationdestination for the communication, receiving from the initiating party aselected option to obtain the information particular to the physicalgeographic location; and before the initiating party is provided accessto the final communication destination for the communication, providingthe information particular to the physical geographical location, andafter providing the information particular to the physical geographicallocation, providing the initiating party with access to the finalcommunication destination.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation particular to the physical geographical location comprisesweather information for the physical geographical location.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the physical geographic location isidentified by information provided by the initiating party during theinitiated communication.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theselectable options include an option to communicate with an agent. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the selectable options include an optionto leave a message.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectableoptions include an option to play an audio file.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein an internet website is contacted during the initiatedcommunication.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectable optionsinclude an option to retrieve an audio file.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the audio file comprises a particular song.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: before the initiating party is providedaccess to the final communication destination for the communication,providing to the initiating party a second menu of selectable options;before the initiating party is provided access to the finalcommunication destination for the communication, receiving from theinitiating party a selected option that corresponds to one of the secondmenu of selectable options; and before the initiating party is providedaccess to the final communication destination for the communication,performing a predefined operation associated with the selected optionthat corresponds to one of the second menu of selectable options.
 11. Anapparatus in a communication network for handling an initiatedcommunication, the apparatus comprising: a memory that storesinstructions; and a processor that executes the instructions, wherein,when executed by the processor, the instructions cause the apparatus toperform operations comprising: receiving, from an initiating party, aninitiated communication directed to a communication destination addressassigned to a receiving party; before the initiating party is providedaccess to a final communication destination for the communication,providing to the initiating party a first menu of selectable optionsincluding an option to obtain information particular to a physicalgeographic location identified during the initiated communication,before the initiating party is provided access to the finalcommunication destination for the communication, receiving from theinitiating party a selected option to obtain the information particularto the physical geographic location; before the initiating party isprovided access to the final communication destination for thecommunication, providing the information particular to the physicalgeographic location, and after providing the information particular tothe physical geographical location, providing the initiating party withaccess to the final communication destination for the communication. 12.The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising: a data store for storingthe first menu of selectable options.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the data store contains at least one audio file comprisingmusic.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data store contains atleast one audio file comprising current event information.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the data store contains at least oneaudio file comprising weather information.
 16. The apparatus of claim11, wherein the selectable options include an option to communicate withan agent.
 17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the selectable optionsinclude an option to leave a message.
 18. The apparatus of claim 11,wherein the selectable options include an option to retrieve contentfrom an internet website, and selection of the option to retrievecontent from an internet website causes the apparatus to connect to theinternet website and retrieve content from the internet website.
 19. Atangible non-transitory computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of acomputer, handle an initiated communication, the instructions causingthe computer to perform operations comprising: receiving, from aninitiating party, an initiated communication directed to a communicationdestination address assigned to a receiving party; before the initiatingparty is provided access to a final communication destination for thecommunication, providing to the initiating party a first menu ofselectable options including an option to obtain information particularto a physical geographic location identified during the initiatedcommunication; before the initiating party is provided access to thefinal communication destination for the communication, receiving fromthe initiating party a selected option to obtain the informationparticular to the physical geographic location; before the initiatingparty is provided access to the final communication destination for thecommunication, providing the information particular to the physicalgeographical location, and after providing the information particular tothe physical geographical location, providing the initiating party withaccess to the final communication destination for the communication. 20.The tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, theinstructions further causing the computer to perform operationscomprising: before the initiating party is provided access to the finalcommunication destination for the communication, providing to theinitiating party a second menu of selectable options; before theinitiating party is provided access to the final communicationdestination for the communication, receiving from the initiating party aselected option that corresponds to one of the second menu of selectableoptions; and before the initiating party is provided access to the finalcommunication destination for the communication, performing a predefinedoperation associated with the request corresponding to one of the secondmenu of selectable options.